Popovich goes to bat for veterans

Published 11:47 pm, Friday, November 8, 2013

SAN ANTONIO — All players wore special “Hoops for Troops” warmup jerseys, and coaches sported troop-themed lapel pins Friday as the NBA kicked off a weekend-long show of appreciation for veterans leading up to Veterans Day, which will be celebrated Monday.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, a 1970 graduate of the Air Force Academy who served five years, endorsed the program but admonished the general public to remember veterans beyond the holiday. He also called on government leaders not to cut benefits to the families of veterans in need.

“In a lot of ways, it's a joyous day if we all remember it to honor people,” Popovich said. “But in some ways, it's a sad day. They don't really get honored the way they should be. A lot of it is just pablum, but when it comes down to the nuts and bolts of what they need, they're really not getting everything.

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“How many vets and their families might have to do without food stamps because of what's going on? That program is huge to a lot of these families, I mean huge. It gets them through. And it may or may not be there because government's not very functional at this point.

“It's a day to reflect and honor and also not lose sight of the fact that a whole lot more has to be done with what they've done for all of us.”

Stylishly balding: Spurs guard Manu Ginobili was surprised to learn he had been cited, with an appropriate photo of the back of his head, in GQ Magazine, as the paragon of a particular men's look: a stylish approach to a receding hairline.

Ginobili, who came into the league with flowing locks, has gone to a close-cropped look that minimizes the bald spot that has increased on the crown of his head over the years.

“Is it an honor?” he said of the GQ review. “Not really, it's not that big a thing. Everybody does it, right?”

Big, bad Baynes: Spurs backup big man Aron Baynes logged nearly 16 rugged minutes in Friday's victory over the Warriors, much of it in a tug-of-war under the basket with Golden State's Jermaine O'Neal, a veteran of 17 NBA seasons.

One especially physical scrum brought double technical fouls, and Baynes later was hit with a flagrant foul against O'Neal, a call reversed to a routine offensive foul after a referee review.

“Just one of those things that happens,” the 6-foot-10, 260-pound Baynes said of his nose-to-nose confrontation with O'Neal that drew the double technicals. “I was surprised (to get called for a technical foul). Just one of those heat-of-the-moment things.”